Apple was sued for using non-standard materials, causing iPhone 7 to fail

The court in Illinois (USA) has just received a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company already knows but still uses “non-standard materials”, causing the audio controller on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to be broken during use.

Accordingly, the three plaintiffs said their iPhone 7 had “audio IC defects”, together with the signs showing that the hardware error was similar to the “loop disease” bug that was discovered on a large number of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in 2018.

In the file, the plaintiffs said they had seen the speaker button turned gray when making a call, losing the ability to order Siri, the Voice Memos application was not working, the fidelity of the microphone was reduced and many other audio problems. The devices sticking to this bug were sold by Apple in early 2017 to the end of 2018.

The main cause of loop disease on iPhone 7 is that the phone has an inadequate design, the aluminum frame is made from “non-standard material” which causes the body to bend properly at the placement of the sound IC on board. Over time, the circuit connected to the audio chip gradually loosened and caused a series of related problems.

According to the motherboard magazine report in 2018, independent technicians can overcome the problem by removing the audio chip and welding a small piece of wire between it and the circuit board. The lawsuit acknowledges that the only remedy is to use an extra piece of solder to help the audio IC contact the circuit board, even if the case is curled up.

Apple has faced many similar lawsuits in the past, especially the mass-induced error on iPhone 6 when the weld between the control chip and the circuit board is also loose because the case is easily bent. In Apple’s internal repair document, the company acknowledged the audio problem on iPhone 7 but refused a free warranty.